americans flock to voting stations after the end of a ford presidential campaign fears of a fraud mounted some polls go digital. gives a voice to the candidates shunned by the media with third party hopefuls calling for an end to america's two party domination. of devils weaken greece a nationwide strike freezes the country was prepared to vote through new cuts. moscow claims high tech american weapons are reaching rebels in syria and accuses the western media of flawed reporting about.

world news live from moscow this is our with me wrong welcome to the program and our top story of course that of the vote that's affecting possibly every nation on earth that of the u.s. presidential election. and with ballots open in more than forty states now americans are flocking to decide their president the voting is already hitting some trouble in the super storm wrecked the northeast thousands of struggling just to reach a polling station all allegations of partisan voter suppression and even ballot tampering are surfacing elsewhere let's cross over to ati's marina portnoy are standing by for us right now in new york maria it's good to see you what can you tell us about the voting so far. well us so far

there have been several ports of voting problems in new york and new jersey to say the least now in new york in the aftermath of hurricane sandy and the damage caused sixty polling locations have been moved as a result of that there have been long lines seen throughout new york city this morning so far since the polls have opened there are also been reports of electronic voting machines breaking down in lower manhattan now military trucks are also being used throughout new york as makeshift polling stations for people that can't access their original polling station for people that are still without power or electricity in the aftermath of sandy meanwhile in nearby new jersey voters are being allowed to cast their ballots. fax or e-mail now this is after two hundred fifty polling stations were reportedly destroyed in the aftermath of hurricane

sandy but many computer security experts believe that allowing people to vote online could lead to disaster is specially in a close race experts say that u.s. cyber security is not strong enough to withstand people going in and changing votes believing votes there are and there are also reports of it taking up to an hour for voters in new jersey to cast their ballots on line in addition throughout the country in oregon there's been allegations of voter fraud and ballot tampering in florida a lawsuit has already been filed over early voting suppression in nevada the democrats are being accused of registering illegal immigrants in iowa according to reports authorities have been threatening the o.s.c. e monitors saying that they would arrest them if the monitors come close to voting pools voting locations so clearly there has been in just

a few hours. lots of news coming out about various problems on election day on a day where americans will be choosing between barack obama and mitt romney but even before hurricane sandy and her aftermath caused so much voting problems the american election system was already made much controversy and for more on that we turn to our. you elected me to tell you the truth honesty is the best policy while maybe not in u.s. elections two words define why people hate america double standard on everything in this presidential election season these two words are back in full swing the basic definition of a double standard is a rule or principle unfairly applied in different ways to different people or groups let's find out if this is relevant to the us election system from

questionable voter id regulations to shorten to early voting time slots to gerrymandering rejoicing congressional district lines to favor certain party laws affecting voters' rights are passed left and right and vary state by state do you have an error. this video shows how easy it is to attempt to steal attorney general eric holder's vote when an idea is not required should be. yet places that do ask for a government issued photo id in effect over ten percent of americans that simply don't have one there is an attempt to prevent large numbers of people from actually exercising the ballot election monitors usually serve the purpose of keeping track of and discrepancies and while the u.s. likes to keep a close eye on the way elections are handled abroad even the carter center which grows abroad and does the great we're monitoring the elections. refuses to monitor a u.s. election it's on the grounds. basic standards of integrity one election ideals are

not met elsewhere criticism runs rampant elections in venezuela elections in iran elections in russia. the press will go to town on any sign that the outcome was fixed and while nit picking abroad is all the rage the elephant in the room remains unnoticed at home policymakers and to a great extent our media and and trickle down to the american people have literally the literally think that the rest of the world is stupid. that they don't see it that everybody naturally has to admit admire us that we're great and it's not the case well obvious flaws are met with a deaf ear and here in and year out a flawed election process continues to be the first vote cast in the u.s. and if the party. and the polls are still can separate barack obama and mitt romney who have been in a dead heat for a month now but alongside the two front runners many others who were running

weren't even given a voice in the media so a lot see here in the platform they need it. the notion that we've been the country that stood up to the bullied as opposed to being a bully it's a growing police state quite obviously we can end the failed racist war on drugs downsize the military and the drone wars bring the troops home let's stop with our military interventions let's get out of afghanistan tomorrow thirty thousand drones flying over the united states what are they flying over the united states for in the unemployment and jumpstart the green economy that spells an end to climate change and make wars for oil obsolete. but what was a rather striking about that debate was how different the proposals put forward of work from those of obama and romney he's gone next to can now report on just what a third party could have to offer. we listen to presidential candidates who know very well you know perfectly well that they don't stand a chance to win this election but they screw their hats in the ring because they

claim the two parties were public and democratic have conspired to leave americans with no choice or. of choice as they say joel stein from the green party and gary johnson from the libertarian party debated in our studio this monday night but it was not a debate simply against the two party system listening to how these alternative candidates argued on the economy could see how dramatically opposite their views are. on the subject it was a heated debate on the role of the government the libertarian candidate for instance was arguing that the u.s. should get rid of all taxes except the federal consumption tax but on foreign policy they demonstrated a similar view both offering views distinctly alternative to those of romney and barack obama we deserve a foreign policy based on international law human rights and diplomacy unfortunately we currently have an international policy based on wars for oil and

the use of brute military force as a tool of foreign policy we're funding the syrian insurgents quarter of the syrian insurgents are just hottest did we not learn our lessons when it came to afghanistan and the fact that we bankrolled osama bin laden and how did that turn out look there are unintended consequences to our military interventions always worse than better campaign financing is becoming a huge issue here especially with the supreme court ruling which now allows corporations to funnel as much money as they want into political campaigns which makes it virtually impossible for someone without the backing of the big party machines to win an election the news cycle here in america is entirely focused on the two parties americans know very little if anything about alternative candidates when green parties jule styne was the rest. protesting outside the place where president obama and mitt romney debated in mid october it went completely ignored by the media here so it seems the part is the illusion is to black out alternative

voices and to convince the american people that they have no other choice but barack obama and mitt romney and the mainstream media here are very much part of that black out. party corresponding to a gun age who can write their will for many nations the us election is almost as important as their own because whether it's a financial aid or that of military protection they know what obama is all about but at this point romney on the other hand is still an unknown entity a risk an expert on middle east affairs says that muslims around the world have already decided on their candidate it's very clear the orientation or the inclination of the muslims is to vote for obama although war bomber has continued with the double standard policy with respect to the israeli palestinian issue although he has continually unwavering american support for israel the basic belief amongst the american muslims and even amongst muslims here in the middle east is that obama to the least extent is the less of two evils because we all know the

rhetoric which has been used by romney so for all these reasons it is clear that the a muslim world and also particularly the muslims in the other sense of america will be voting for obama and in a close election by this one of these muslim boots in american might have a very big story in who emerges as the victor and here in r.t. will be continuing extensive coverage as the vote progresses tackling issues you won't hear being addressed in the mainstream networks to stay up to date on the elections here of course on our website as well r.t. dot com. of the six america votes for its next president. who takes the wheel as the u.s. drives into the field you. get the news the mainstream missives with up close election coverage through a selection of please. r.t. dot com thanks for joining us here on r.t.

today israel has announced its plans to build over a thousand new homes in the occupied west bank that's despite international opposition to tel aviv settlement policies which most countries consider illegal under international law more on this i'm now joined by jeff helper the head of the israeli committee against house demolitions. it's good to see you today first thing thanks for coming on the program indeed the announcement comes as the world watches the u.s. elections almost there for the global i turns to washington is israel perhaps being a slightly opportunistic with its timing here. you know israel could be seen as being opportunistic but in fact it's done this in normal times as well don't forget last year when biden provides president biden with here in jerusalem israel also announced the building of a thousand new housing units it doesn't matter the point is that this is non new i

mean it's true the international community opposes israeli policies but it won't do anything to sanction israel in israel knows it and it knows that whether obama's elected or romney selected its trump card is the american congress support that israel has from both political parties and it doesn't care anymore it will do this in the light of day israel has eliminated the two state solution as that's called is completely imprison the palestinians and no one in the world is going to speak up against it see to what you've done you took it off a thousand you hi i'm going to sort of jump in with. a thousand new homes being constructed that is no small project indeed off to the election whether it's romney or obama in the white house to do you would you expect the white house to to make any notes about this to make any statement about a thousand new homes being built in occupied territory. no on the contrary i think that the administration will always say they were against it

because that's what they have to say it's pro forma but in fact when biden was here might bring this up because it was in his face biden is the pro israel spokesperson in the obama administration he was here israel announced the building of a thousand new housing units in the west bank completely humiliating by why because it wanted to show obama who's calling the shots because in the wake of that there was a fight between obama and netanyahu it was very public and congress both houses of congress the senate and the house issued statements a sense of congress resolution telling all bomba you lay off the tongue yahoo in other words when there is a fight between an american president and israeli prime minister congress supports the israeli prime minister against his own president in fact the democrats support a ton yahoo against their own democratic press that one day there are many. issues

already the jewish vote in washington does dictate a lot of what happens from behind the scenes or i wish we had more time for this but regrettably we were head of the israeli committee against house them and i don't forget the christian fundamentalists and thank you for that as well thanks for coming out see today thank you. now the british prime minister gets down to business as we are poor shortly here not see david cameron quotes gulf any to sell fighter jets worth billions of dollars while critics point to the client's disappointing records of human rights all of that and more after a short break. usually the police and occupy protesters are like oil and water but in atlanta they've come together to save the house of a former detective jacqueline barber unfortunately ms barber lost

a lot of money battling cancer and was facing eviction which she turned to occupy homes for help so far she's managed to stay in her home despite it being sold out from under her feet but the main thing is that her fight to stay in her home has become like a bridge between two groups who are usually at each other's throats the police and occupiers the thing is the cruel economic practices can affect us all even retired police like ms barber i know there are some irresponsible people who buy things they can't pay for a year the police have to do something about them but they shouldn't throw you out of your home that you've paid for for years just for getting cancer no one should have to live with the constant fear that their home will be taken away after years and years of payment just because they got sick and america i thought we believed in private property not eternally renting from big banks but that's just my opinion .

these are the images.

of the program. says sophisticated america. making their way into the hands of rebels in syria he also accused the western media of twisting the facts in its reporting of the civil war. this report. the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov speaking in the jordanian capital of amman has warned against western power was supplying syrian opposition fighters with illegal weapons he says that russia has evidence as well as information that the fighters are being supplied which might take a face of equipment more than just the stingers a chemical in the hands of the bull fighters and the equipment is made now in iraq also said that he was very surprised to find out that the b.b.c. says it has information that russia is supplying syria with weapons of mass destruction he said it was amazing to hear from a correspondent of such over suspected corporation such claims being made at the

same time he did say that russia was finishing its arms shipment to damascus and that these were deals that were made and old contracts but that the distinction needs to be made that these are only defensive weapons weapons that are not being used in the conflict by comparison with the type of weapons that are making it into the opposition fighters today that are fueling the conflict on the ground you have also said that russia's position is clear that they need to be talks between the syrian government and the opposition he said it is up to syrians to decide for themselves who they want in the transitional government and he warned against making from the outside now comments come as the syrian opposition meets in doha what we do know is that the meeting is aimed at bringing the opposition together but certainly the u.s. has previously suggested that it would hand pick some of the candidates for this new united opposition what we are seeing is washington taking an active part in forming this new body there are already reports within the opposition with some

members claiming that the reshuffle has not been done copy and that what we've seen is old names merely being replaced by new names who really have the same political position there is growing concern of what will evolve in syria will be much the same as what happened in libya where western countries recognize the opposition as the only judge in the government and then launched military action the concern is that by not recognizing the syrian president bashar assad western nations will be given greater freedom to do what they want the next country. billions of dollars are at stake for the british prime minister on a low key arms sales to or of the gulf states david cameron's aiming to sell around one hundred typhoon fighter jets to clients with controversial records on human rights but let's join the pace and arms trade research are coming to us here on r t it's so good to see you today the trip is being called low key i wonder why. well certainly the revelation of cameron country to its normal form is only taking one

camera man with him certainly does raise questions and certainly david cameron should be embarrassed about sanctity in the middle east right now what we're seeing is that the interests of international arms companies appear to be trumping british laws and british values when it comes to upholding human rights. that cameron has publicly aligned himself with the arab spring movement he's going to great efforts as we can see to sell arms to the very same oppressive regimes that the arab spring was opposed to fundamentally promoting arms sales to these countries undermines what regulations u.k. does have on controlling arms exports the two of fundamentally incompatible recently talk about an issue of a double standards here supporting the arab spring and then basically selling weapons to those who are getting involved in the let's let's address the issue of typhoon fighter jets why do you think the gulf monarchies need around one hundred

of them are they facing any military threat at the moment well there's a perceived threat in iran but iran does not have modern fighter jets there's no genuine need right now more often leads to status symbols for the countries in question and indeed there is often a personal financial benefit in mind for the rulers in question these deals have been in extra could be linked to corruption in the past indeed yeah man still with the saudi arabia one of the countries in question is. the most corrupt transaction in the history of mankind with over six billion pounds worth of corrupt commissions possibly being paid fundamentally these countries cannot be considered to be excellent arms markets as the u.k. considers that the same time we're considering to be countries of concern we can't justify any level of economic good which frankly is exaggerated when we're.

right and the minds of the people in the middle east let's let's address one issue here that i'd love to get to where saudi arabia has a war in the u.k. that if it shows support for anti regime groups pushing for government reform it might look to agencies for lucrative trade agreements is blackmail common when so much money is at stake it has happened before i mean be the case of our of the i am arms deal again comes to mind when the serious fraud office in the u.k. was investigating the corruption in that deal which u.k. government was heavily involved in the saudi arabian government made it known that they would withdraw intelligence cooperation with the u.k. which or any other kind of defense cooperation with the u.k. and in the headlines made it to the that there would be blood on british streets if . the investigations into saudi arabian corruption and british corruption continue now this is clear that we cannot continue with this kind of standard the fact is

that these countries may be able to find and arms elsewhere is no justification however the u.k. could should continue trying to sell arms that are worth the certainly is a story that deserves much more time than we have available for us here in our pace arms trade research a great pleasure thank you very much. now a fraud case in russia leads to a major reshuffling in the government a corruption scandal claims at the head of the country's defense ministry amid allegations that embezzlement has left a one hundred million dollar hole in the nation. budget you can read about that decision online. plus a close call for iran as an israeli documentary reveals how it was all set to strike terror on back in two thousand and ten more on that at r.t. dot com. now greece has been brought to a standstill by general strikes on the second day of what's being called devil's week it's a week of public action in protest at a new austerity package about to be voted on by parliament in the center of athens

r.t. correspondent. well the forty eight hour general strike is well and truly underway here in greece and he seems thousands of people coming out onto the streets of athens to voice their anger against the latest round of austerity measures that's being put forward by prime ministers some maurice now that will be voted on a in parliament on whedon's day it's around syria seem point five billion euros worth of savings those savings taking the form of of budget cuts also of tax rises also we expect to see the the age of retirement rice and pensions cuts all of these things angering the people of greece and seeing them out on the streets to demonstrate against it now it's more than likely that that latest round of austerity measures will be passed one of the reasons why it will be passed is because if greece doesn't pass it then they're not going to get the next round of

bailout money that they need so very much now that's just over thirty one billion euros worth of faile out money and they've been told by the three main creditors that they have to slash more from the deficit they have to make more savings and that's why they've they've put forward this pared this nativist package for thirteen point five billion euros worth of savings and it's not expected to be an easy thing no as they say it should pass but it should be a very tight vote in the parliament and not leave people wondering is well even if this does pass will it be enough politicians on site in order to implement these latest savings. it's good to have you with us here in oxford today in half an hour as my colleague bill dog but coming up after a short break it's abby martin and breaking the sat.

the sun rises over one. seems like analyst forest but here in crime hundred kilometers north of light of all stalk as in much of the world it's disappearing at a catastrophic rate. lagers both illegal and those finding ways to outsmart the system for filing down the forests of the region for them profit goes well beyond the future of our planet and the result could be an ecological crisis we are on the hunt for illegal loggers and it's not going to be easy to forests. and our chances are slim now for now we can stay in our dreams but as soon as we find solid tracks we'll have to drop our wheels and get out silently in order not to scare the loggers off alexander someone in ca has been a ranger for over twenty five years he can spend weeks at a time tracking a single group of loggers easier to work when snow falls in autumn it's impossible

to find human dramatics and even transport tracks are hard to see after hours of driving we get sent in the right direction by word of mouth you can see that the ground is soft here which means that twelve tractor trails are very fresh which in fact means that we need to be quiet in order to not scare them off as we get closer . this team says they're illegal but have no documents now xander can now call the police to take over his work here is done he is overwhelmingly outnumbered there are too few rangers working in the region and the w w f a says the government isn't doing enough to stop it. no one tries to stop them in just five years the force will be gone what will the people who live after . it's a question more and more people are aware of today climate change in the safety of our environment as a whole are being discussed around the world and perhaps it's those small steps

that might be a start to people living in harmony with nature. here is mitt romney trying to figure out the name of that thing that we americans call a dollar a night concludes the longest and while this campaign in our history something let me. play before that some of this any longer twists and turns that it will all marks of this campaign we're going to want. to do because you've never seen anything like this until.